The Slightly Bungled Mersenne Prime Origin Story - Numberphile

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.พ. 2025

ความคิดเห็น • 119

  • @numberphile
    @numberphile  9 วันที่ผ่านมา +20

    See Objectivity (293 videos and more to come) - th-cam.com/users/objectivityvideos
    Please do consider subscribing too! 🔔

    • @ericsynchrona5495
      @ericsynchrona5495 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

      cogitate-ta both a's are pronounced differently. Right Hermione? It's levi-oh-sar. I Before E Except After C or T.

  • @GoldenSandslash15
    @GoldenSandslash15 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +177

    If anyone is curious, 2^67 - 1 has the factors 193,707,721 × 761,838,257,287 and 2^257 - 1 has the factors 535,006,138,814,359 × 1,155,685,395,246,619,182,673,033 × 374,550,598,501,810,936,581,776,630,096,313,181,393

    • @numberphile
      @numberphile  9 วันที่ผ่านมา +43

      Thank you! :)

    • @beeble2003
      @beeble2003 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +113

      It's ridiculous that Mersenne gets all the fame when he didn't even know his 193,707,721 times table.

    • @Kirkaje
      @Kirkaje 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +26

      I find the story about 2^67 - 1 and Frank Nelson Cole quite interesting and amusing. American Mathematical Society, New York 1903, Cole going on stage without saying a word, writing the arithmetic series 2^0 + 2^1 + 2^2 ...+2^65 + 2^66 = 2^67 -1 and writing the whole number on the board. Then he wrote the multiplication on the board and showed that same result. The whole time Cole did not say a word, went back to his seat and the audience erupted in applause. Frank Nelson Cole said checking all possible divisors took him every Sunday afternoon for three years.

    • @josenobi3022
      @josenobi3022 9 วันที่ผ่านมา

      @@Kirkaje why the geometric series ? did he have to calculate every previous power of 2 ?

    • @beeble2003
      @beeble2003 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +9

      @@Kirkaje I can't believe he calculated (2^67)-1 as the sum of that series. Having calculated 2^66, the final term of the series, surely he'd just double it and subtract one, rather than add it to another 65 numbers, each of which has up to 20 digits?
      And, it's probably more efficient to calculate 2^66 = (2^33)^2 = ((2^11)^3))^2 = (2048^3)^2, rather than 2*2*2*...*2. That requires multiplying two four-digit numbers, multiplying the seven-digit answer by a four-digit number, then multiplying the resulting ten-digit number by itself. Finally, double the answer and subtract one. That has to be faster than repeated multiplications by two.

  • @tyleringram7883
    @tyleringram7883 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +124

    2^67-1 and 2^257-1, the parker primes.

    • @waarschijn
      @waarschijn 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +6

      2^57 - 1 is the Grothendieck-Mersenne prime

  • @KOKOBC
    @KOKOBC 4 วันที่ผ่านมา +5

    Almost 13 years since your top video and you haven’t aged a day

  • @PaulRamesh1967
    @PaulRamesh1967 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +27

    A Numberphile Objectivity crossover in the Bradyverse -Nice

  • @Daniel-u5m6y
    @Daniel-u5m6y วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    "See the lonely boy out on the weekend trying to make it pay" 🎶

  • @eoinlanier5508
    @eoinlanier5508 8 วันที่ผ่านมา +10

    My guess as to why he included those larger numbers, despite being unable to confirm them, is that he believed he had some rule for generating them.

  • @jamesimmo
    @jamesimmo 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +57

    Brady’s finally playing the game 📺 🧠 👏🏻

  • @renerpho
    @renerpho 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +35

    I've watched Dianna's video (standing up for the first time in 2 years) yesterday. Still makes me sad seeing those old shots of her, but good to see her make some progress.

    • @jursamaj
      @jursamaj 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

      Yay!
      I was surprised when you mentioned it, as I'm subscribed. But YT doesn't tend to put shorts in my notifications.

    • @renerpho
      @renerpho 9 วันที่ผ่านมา

      @@jursamaj Have you seen "Hello from Dianna!", from back in November?

  • @Ayman-1937
    @Ayman-1937 2 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    301 تحية من المملكة المغربيه ❤🇲🇦🇲🇦

  • @David_Last_Name
    @David_Last_Name 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +23

    Most comments are about him missing on 2 of them, meanwhile Im flabbergasted that he got number 127 correct!! How? Other then a pure guess, how could he have figured that out before computers?

    • @dev_ceb
      @dev_ceb 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +14

      Actually, 2^127 was proven correct by Edouard Lucas before computers (the first 'L' in the Lucas-Lehmer test). By hand. It took 19 years of testing.
      Oh, and he figured out the method and started the test for 2^127 when he was only 15 years old... Quite an achievement compared to Mersenne's guesses

    • @arneperschel
      @arneperschel 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +7

      Simple. You check whether it's divisible by 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13 and so on all the way up to roughly 2^63. And you make sure to not make any mistakes.

    • @beeble2003
      @beeble2003 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

      @@dev_ceb We knew whether each of the first 258 Mersenne numbers was prime by 1947 -- all before computers were able to contribute much.

    • @RobinDSaunders
      @RobinDSaunders 8 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Even by Mersenne's time, it was known that the possible prime factors of 2^p-1 are all of the form 2kp + 1. He could have tried a bunch and concluded that there probably weren't any, without having a proof.

    • @RobinDSaunders
      @RobinDSaunders 8 วันที่ผ่านมา +7

      Even in Mersenne's day, the prime factors of 2^p - 1 were known to satisfy a strong constraint: by Fermat's little theorem (proven 1640) they must be congruent to 1 (mod 2p). Many of these candidates will themselves have small prime factors, ruling them out. Shortcuts like these are what make Mersenne primes easier to find.
      Of course, Mersenne still made mistakes. I imagine for p = 127 he checked a bunch of candidate factors, didn't find any, and called it a day. For the primes he missed, perhaps he miscalculated and found a fake factor.

  • @yourlocalmibufan
    @yourlocalmibufan 6 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    Who came here from the "301 view freeze" video?

  • @helpme6599
    @helpme6599 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +49

    Very Parker-esque of Mersenne, but he gave it a try! Thanks Brady

    • @acelm8437
      @acelm8437 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +4

      So 2^67 - 1 is a Parker Mersenne prime?

    • @Sbence92
      @Sbence92 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

      Parker Prime!

  • @Zejgar
    @Zejgar 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    The Mersenne prime for n = 61 is also known as the Pervushin's number.

  • @JohnDoe-ti2np
    @JohnDoe-ti2np 9 วันที่ผ่านมา

    I thought at first that the origin story had been slightly bungled, but I guess it's the list of primes that was slightly bungled.

  • @kevin27966
    @kevin27966 8 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

    Is there any chance that a method exists for generating large primes that can be verified with less computation than Mersenne primes, but has not yet been discovered? Or is there an aspect of 2^p-1 that ensures primes generated by it are almost certainly (perhaps provably) less computationally-expensive to verify than any other conceivable method of generating primes at the same scale?

  • @JLDomino274
    @JLDomino274 5 วันที่ผ่านมา

    please do a video on the number 274

  • @OrbitTheSun
    @OrbitTheSun 6 วันที่ผ่านมา

    GPT-4o was able to guess the author and the book from a screenshot of the text.

  • @Doabarrelrole
    @Doabarrelrole 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +5

    (2^67)-1 ... The Parker Prime... 😂💜

  • @smylesg
    @smylesg 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +9

    0:39 Notwithstanding my lack of Latin skills, I only recognize perfect numbers here.

    • @parzh
      @parzh 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +4

      Take a look a bit lower on the page

  • @skilletpan5674
    @skilletpan5674 4 วันที่ผ่านมา

    I was expecting mat parker to do this one.

  • @deeproff1294
    @deeproff1294 9 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Please do a video about how to solve Maxi Nerdles. Thanks

  • @martind2520
    @martind2520 6 วันที่ผ่านมา

    I always get a weird feeling when people touch such old books. I'm like "dude stop touching it, you'll break it!" but if no-one ever read them, what would be the point of keeping them around?

  • @robertolson7304
    @robertolson7304 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Not square (2n-1)? (1 side and length) 1/3, 1/5, 1/7 ( 3 sides and 105 length). 2 x 1 -1= 1 side (base 105). 35 =1. 2 x 2-1= 3 sides (base 105). 3 =35. 2x3-1= 5. 5=21. 2x4-1=7 sides. (Base 105) 7=15. Its always finds a way too loop back. Singular loops. Binary doesn't.

  • @AzharAli-n5c
    @AzharAli-n5c 8 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Great

  • @sussdood
    @sussdood 5 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    For me the view count seems to be stuck at 301, why?

    • @hebl47
      @hebl47 2 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Nice reference, dude!
      (at least I hope it's a reference?)

  • @therealax6
    @therealax6 5 วันที่ผ่านมา

    What do you mean by "not being able to compute them"? You can quickly calculate large powers (large as in hundreds or thousands) by repeatedly squaring a value. Calculating 2^257 with pen and paper takes a few minutes.
    Or were you talking about factoring them?

  • @MURDERPILLOW.
    @MURDERPILLOW. 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +3

    I hereby declare "Muderpillow Primes" primes that follow the form (3^n)-1
    Theres only one of them •~•

    • @RobinDSaunders
      @RobinDSaunders 8 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

      You may like the story of "Legendre's constant" :)

    • @ffggddss
      @ffggddss 7 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

      There's a way of generalizing Mersenne primes which, recognizing that mᵖ-1 is always divisible by m-1, goes
      M(m,p) = (mᵖ-1)/(m-1)
      in which m,p>1 are integers, with p = a prime.
      When m=2, M(2,p) is just the Mersenne number = M(p) = 2ᵖ-1
      Some primes that have this form are
      M(3,3) = 13
      M(3,7) = 1093
      M(5,3) = 31, coincidentally = M(2,5) = M(5)
      M(6,3) = 43
      M(7,5) = 2801
      M(8,3) = 73
      etc.
      Fred

  • @androidlogin3065
    @androidlogin3065 8 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    What about 3^N-1 be a prime? How are they called? ... At lesat one exist: 3^1-1=2
    And in general, M^N-1 be a prime, how is that called?

    • @AHBelt
      @AHBelt 8 วันที่ผ่านมา +4

      3^N, N an integer, is odd, then 3^N-1 even, only prime if 2 itself.

    • @ffggddss
      @ffggddss 7 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

      What AHBelt said; plus, mⁿ - 1 is always divisible by m - 1, which, when m=2 is just 1,
      so Mersenne numbers can still be prime, but for m,n>2, mⁿ - 1 is never prime.
      Also, when n is composite, say n = st, where s,t > 1, then mⁿ - 1 = mˢᵗ - 1 = (mˢ)ᵗ - 1 = (mᵗ)ˢ - 1, so it's divisible by mˢ - 1 and mᵗ - 1.
      Now if you restrict n to be prime, n = p, and divide by the automatic factor m - 1, then you CAN get some primes of the form
      M(m,p) = (mᵖ - 1)/(m - 1)
      Note that when m=2, this just boils down to the Mersenne numbers, 2ᵖ - 1; and like those, M(m,p) is sometimes composite.
      Fred

    • @androidlogin3065
      @androidlogin3065 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

      @@ffggddss When M,N are both greater than 2, how to proof M^N-1 is never prime?
      If M is of the form of (2*S)+1, then M^N-1 is allways multiple of 2 so not prime, but how to proof when M is of the form of (2*S)?
      When M=2 there are primes that are 2^N-1, like N=2, N=3, N=5, but not N=4, ...

    • @ffggddss
      @ffggddss 5 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

      @@androidlogin3065 Pretty simple, really. [BTW, I should maybe have said, m>2 & n>1.]
      mⁿ - 1 is always divisible by m - 1. This is key to the formula for the finite geometric series.
      mⁿ - 1 = (m - 1)(mⁿ⁻¹ + mⁿ⁻² +...+ m + 1)
      If m > 2, (m - 1) > 1, and with n > 1, the other factor is also > 1, so this factorization demonstrates that mⁿ - 1 is composite.

  • @hugoillianthskanderguevara961
    @hugoillianthskanderguevara961 6 วันที่ผ่านมา

    The viowers not are in 301

  • @randomname285
    @randomname285 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +7

    aging very gracefully Mr Haran

  • @robertolson7304
    @robertolson7304 วันที่ผ่านมา

    2n-1 is illogical. Its not even 2n+1. Frequency in frequency. We have 3 break down 1of 1= 1/2 ( 2 parallelogram) (1/2,1/4, 1/6, 1/8, etc). 1/2, 1/4, 1/6= 3(1+1+1) and 2 as the differential (parallelogram). How many times does 1 pop up for prime in 3? 3 (2+1), 9(8+1), 15(14+1), etc.
    so frequency of 2 with another frequency resonates at 3. So 1, 6, 12, 18, etc.. why aren't you using your base function? (Parallelograms, or not squared). What is your math based off? Units of what?

  • @iTeerRex
    @iTeerRex 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    Because he listed them in that book it’s called… ?

    • @PopeLando
      @PopeLando 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

      Mersenne Prime Suspect?

  • @michael-j-harrison
    @michael-j-harrison 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +11

    It seems like Mersenne basicaly got thing more wrong then right.
    7 Mersenne primes known before him.
    He correctly identified 2 more.
    He incorrectly suggest 2 more.
    He incorrectly missed 3 more within the range of exponents he had explored.
    He totalled 5 mistakes to 2 right numbers.

    • @jursamaj
      @jursamaj 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

      And yet those numbers will be forever given his name…

    • @BobJones-rs1sd
      @BobJones-rs1sd 8 วันที่ผ่านมา +4

      This is an odd way of framing it. If you really think he searched that entire range of prime exponents (primes greater than the previously known 19 and up to 257), that's 47 candidate prime numbers. If you think he actually "explored" all of these, that would mean:
      He apparently correctly determined that 40 of them were NOT prime.
      Correctly determined that 2 of them were prime.
      Incorrectly suggested 2 were prime.
      Incorrectly suggested 3 were not prime when they were.
      That's 5 mistakes to 42 right numbers. A LOT more "right" than wrong.
      However, I don't think that's an accurate way of considering this either, as we really don't know the search method employed. Mersenne didn't really clarify how he narrowed down his list. It's very doubtful he considered all 47 candidate prime numbers in this range. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm not sure Mersenne claimed this list was exhaustive either for that range. That is, he may have been working off a pattern he thought might be a sufficient condition for being a prime, but not a necessary one, in which case the three he "missed" shouldn't necessarily be counted against him. Really, however, without knowing exactly what criteria he was using to narrow them down (and historians of math have identified some ideas about what that may have been, without coming up with anything precisely consistent with his list that I know of), we can't really determine exactly how many "mistakes" he made among numbers he didn't discuss.

  • @bellybuttonfluff-r9k
    @bellybuttonfluff-r9k 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +4

    Omega Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch? Noice!

  • @pullt
    @pullt 8 วันที่ผ่านมา

    If Mersenne was basically a coun toss on listing correct numbers after the relatively simple ones, isn't he a bit overrated?

  • @livedandletdie
    @livedandletdie 9 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Salve Brady, hodie est formosus.

    • @beeble2003
      @beeble2003 9 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Wow, TH-cam's auto-trainslate handles Latin.

  • @ngaan4git6hing3
    @ngaan4git6hing3 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Okay but hear me out. Neo got my back culture things tech tech on my mind

  • @spindoctor6385
    @spindoctor6385 9 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Why would he "not be able to compute" these numbers?

    • @RobinDSaunders
      @RobinDSaunders 8 วันที่ผ่านมา

      This could be shorthand for "test by computation".

    • @spindoctor6385
      @spindoctor6385 8 วันที่ผ่านมา

      @RobinDSaunders Possibly, if so then it is pretty clumsy. I watched it back and have a hard time knowing exactly what he meant.

  • @Superphilipp
    @Superphilipp 8 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Whaaaaaat, no white gloves?

  • @davecorry7723
    @davecorry7723 9 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Beautiful Speedmaster.

  • @filipdahlberg4420
    @filipdahlberg4420 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Why no gloves on when handling an old book like that?….

  • @robertolson7304
    @robertolson7304 8 วันที่ผ่านมา

    2n-1 or 2n+1 are or have to be coordinates in a system. Not a value.

  • @frankharr9466
    @frankharr9466 3 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Neat. :)

  • @MoneyChanger02
    @MoneyChanger02 9 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Parker primes

  • @futurepath
    @futurepath 9 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Looking good Brady

  • @kiwischolz9811
    @kiwischolz9811 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

    I'm surprised they let you touch such an old book with your bare hands. Shouldn't you wear gloves to not damage the paper? I always thought this would cause damage to the pages over time

    • @LofferLogge
      @LofferLogge 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +14

      That used to be the case, but now common practice is to use your bare hands, because when you're wearing gloves your fingers are less sensitive and dexterous and you're more likely to tear a page accidentally, so it's generally thought that the oil from your hands is less of a risk than that.

    • @sternmg
      @sternmg 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +4

      @@LofferLogge: Very well put! You can also find the answer in 'Objectivity' videos or their comments when old books or manuscripts from the Royal Society archives (and elsewhere) are featured - and they often are.

  • @EmmanuelRamirezMedina-v1n
    @EmmanuelRamirezMedina-v1n 9 วันที่ผ่านมา

    hi

  • @colemanhoyt5437
    @colemanhoyt5437 8 วันที่ผ่านมา

    A blursed math artifact!

  • @thomasgoodwin2648
    @thomasgoodwin2648 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +4

    2 of the quickest ways to get into the history books are to either start or end a conversation.
    🖖😎👍

    • @RobinDSaunders
      @RobinDSaunders 8 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

      Mersenne did not, in fact, start the conversation about Mersenne primes. As Stigler's law puts it, nothing is named after its original discoverer.
      Hopefully, actual history books will care about more than who manages to get famous for other people's work, even if the general public doesn't.

    • @thomasgoodwin2648
      @thomasgoodwin2648 8 วันที่ผ่านมา

      @@RobinDSaunders You raise a great point. Not always, but it does happen. Do we revere the silent geniuses that changed the future, or the mouths that gave them voice (And just rhetorically of course, which would you choose) ?
      😉

  • @ftfk7869
    @ftfk7869 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    please remove the auto dubbing from your videos

  • @AmamYt09
    @AmamYt09 6 วันที่ผ่านมา

    301views💀

  • @E1craZ4life
    @E1craZ4life 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    Fermat conjectured that Mersenne primes existed where n = 2^k, but it only works up to k = 4.

    • @mathieugouttenoire9665
      @mathieugouttenoire9665 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +8

      Fermat numbers are of the form 2^2^k + 1 and not 2^2^k - 1, which would only be prime for k=1 since for k>=1 it is always divisible by 3

  • @KindredKin
    @KindredKin 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    Brady interviewing Brady?!

  • @7186B
    @7186B 9 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Did you lose weight? You look so much better than in my memories.
    Keep up if you actually did something :D

  • @davidkahnt2632
    @davidkahnt2632 9 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Mersenne's Square

  • @TimeFlyBy
    @TimeFlyBy 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

    First?

  • @rahulkumar-hf2jz
    @rahulkumar-hf2jz 9 วันที่ผ่านมา

    10th comment 🕶️

  • @federicofedele4622
    @federicofedele4622 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    Nope...Sorry, but i will watch a video even remotly related to the royal society when they will expel Elon Musk form their fellows list.

    • @onecupofconsciousnessplease
      @onecupofconsciousnessplease 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +6

      Sir this video has nothing to do with Elon Musk.

    • @AySz88
      @AySz88 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

      This does nothing but cede ground and would make them *more* dependent on Musk and his fans.

    • @mr.metaphysic1336
      @mr.metaphysic1336 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

      @@onecupofconsciousnessplease Maybe, in the future, everything will have to do with Elon Musk. What a dystopic perspective!

    • @beeble2003
      @beeble2003 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

      @@onecupofconsciousnessplease Elon Musk is a Fellow of the Royal Society. This video promotes the Royal Society; Federico has explained that he objects to that.

    • @beeble2003
      @beeble2003 9 วันที่ผ่านมา

      @ The Royal Society has an enormous endowment so they're not at all reliant on Musk and his fans. For example, the UK government granted them a quarter of a billion pounds a couple of years ago, to be invested to fund fellowships and research grants.

  • @OoflandRepublic
    @OoflandRepublic 9 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    Hello from our new republic🫡